[12/19/06 - 08:52 PM]TNT Claims Fourth Consecutive Year as Ad-Supported Cable's #1 Network in Total Day Among Key Adult Demos; TBS Scores with Ad-Supported Cable's Top Five Sitcoms, Including #1 Original Sitcom My BoysTNT finished 2006 as ad-supported cable's #1 network in total day delivery of key adult demos.

[via press release from TNT]

TNT Claims Fourth Consecutive Year as Ad-Supported Cable's #1 Network in Total Day Among Key Adult Demos; TBS Scores with Ad-Supported Cable's Top Five Sitcoms, Including #1 Original Sitcom My Boys

December 19, 2006

For the fourth consecutive year, TNT has claimed the heavyweight title as ad-supported cable's #1 network in total day delivery of key adult demos, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. Leading the way for the drama network is ad-supported cable's #1 original series of all time in viewer and household delivery, The Closer, which recently earned star Kyra Sedgwick her second consecutive Golden Globe� nomination and second consecutive Golden Satellite� win. TNT also earned high praise and strong numbers for its summer television event Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, as well as for the original movies The Ron Clark Story and The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines, both of which rank among the year's top movie telecasts.

TBS continues to attract young adult viewers with its stellar line-up of scripted comedies, including ad-supported cable's #1 original sitcom of the year, TBS's critically acclaimed My Boys. It joins such long-standing hits as Sex and the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, Seinfeld and Friends in giving TBS a lock on ad-supported top five sitcoms. Also this year, TBS enjoyed enormous success off-channel with the launch of the popular broadband network VeryFunnyAds.com.

"We have worked extremely hard this year to strengthen the brands of our networks by expanding their reach into alternative platforms and creating some of the most memorable original programming on television," said Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. "The results of our efforts are clear: TNT and TBS have become cable's standard bearers in terms of both quality and popularity. We are very proud of what we have accomplished this year and look forward to building on our success in 2007 with high-profile originals like TNT's The Company, Grace and Heartland, as well as new seasons of The Closer and TBS's My Boys."

2006 ratings highlights for TNT:

� For a fourth year in a row, TNT has ranked as ad-supported cable's #1 network in total day among adults 18-49 (647,000) and adults 25-54 (663,000).

� TNT's acclaimed series The Closer continues to steamroll the competition as the show's first and second seasons combined now rank it as ad-supported cable's #1 original series of all time among persons 2+ (6,065,000) and households (4,507,000).

� For its second spectacular season, The Closer ranked as ad-supported cable's #1 series of the year among adults 25-54 (2,786,000), up 17 percent vs. first season; persons 2+ (6,595,000), up 21 percent; and households (4,941,000/5.4 coverage rating/4.5 national rating), up 23 percent. The show's second season also averaged 2,229,000 adults 18-49, an increase of 15 percent over the first season.

� TNT's original movies The Ron Clark Story and The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines rank among ad-supported cable's top five original movies for the year to date among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

� The acclaimed all-star summer television event Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King proved to be a big winner for TNT. Over the four weeks, the show ranked as ad-supported cable's #1 program in its time period (Wednesdays 9-11 p.m.) among adults 18-49 (1,664,000); adults 25-54 (1,958,000); persons 2+ (3,338,000); and households (2,310,000).

� Nightmares & Dreamscapes ranks among ad-supported cable's top five new series for the year among adults 18-49.

� Demonstrating the strength of TNT's total day programming strategy, the network's Primetime in the Daytime block beats 55 competing networks' prime time line-ups among adults 18-49.

� TNT and TBS combined to claim 9 of ad-supported cable's top 20 movie telecasts for the year among adults 18-49.

2006 ratings highlights for TBS:

� TBS claims ad-supported cable's top five sitcom among adults 18-49, including Sex and the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, Seinfeld and TBS's hit original sitcom My Boys, which was just renewed for a second season to start next summer.

� My Boys consistently builds on its Sex and the City lead-in among TBS's target demographic, adults 18-34. Last week, the 10 p.m. episode grew TBS's adult 18-34 audience by 14 percent over the last quarter hour of Sex and the City.

� TBS had a successful launch this year of VeryFunnyAds.com, which since its debut in has scored more than 28 million video views. In addition to providing the Internet's best collection of funny commercials, VeryFunnyAds.com also gave viewers the opportunity to watch and vote for the Funniest Commercials of the Year: 2006, with the results to be unveiled in the annual one-hour special hosted by Kevin Nealon and airing Wednesday, Dec. 27, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).

TBS, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., is television's "very funny" network. It serves as home to such hot contemporary comedies as Sex and the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, Family Guy, Seinfeld and Friends; original comedy series like My Boys and 10 Items or Less; specials and special events, such as The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas; blockbuster movies; and hosted movie showcases.

Turner Network Television (TNT), a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., is television's destination for drama and one of cable's top-rated networks. It offers original movies and series, including the blockbuster detective series The Closer, starring Emmy�, Golden Globe� and Screen Actors Guild Awards� nominee Kyra Sedgwick, and next year's eagerly anticipated television event The Company, executive-produced by Ridley Scott and starring Chris O'Donnell, Michael Keaton and Alfred Molina. TNT is also home to powerful one-hour dramas, such as Without a Trace, Law & Order, Las Vegas, Cold Case, ER, Charmed and Judging Amy; broadcast premiere movies; compelling prime-time specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards�; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA. TNT is also available in high-definition.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and a leading provider of programming for the television industry.

Year-To-Date: 12/26/05-12/17/06

Source: Turner Research from Preliminary Nielsen Media Research data, based on most current data available (Live+SD). Complete and final data (Live+7) will be available in two weeks. Prime time is M-Su 8-11pm. Total Day reflects total programming hours for each network as reported by Nielsen. The following networks do not program the entire M-Su 6a-6a daypart: A&E, ABC Fam, ADSM, Bio, CMDY, CNBC, Court TV, Discovery, ENT, FX, FOOD, GAME, HIST, HGTV, Lifetime, NAN, NGC, NICK, OXY, HALL, TLC, WE, WGN and SPIKE. All ratings based on Total U.S. Television Universe of 110,200,000 homes. Movie rankings include all ad-supported program telecasts coded as feature films in Nielsen Media Research systems. (Data for Sunday 3 a.m.-6 a.m. not yet available.)